The Replanting Fund is one of several U.S. Forest Service “trust funds” that is dependent on the federal timber program. Forest Service trust funds are similar in many ways to a private bank account. These funds allow the Forest Service to deposit and withdraw money without guidance from Congress. Unlike most other government spending, these funds do not receive annual appropriations from Congress, which means they are not subject to Congressional or public oversight. This lack of accountability to Congress and the American public is one of the primary reasons that these funds are so abused by forest managers across the country.

WHAT IS THE “REPLANTING FUND”?
Congress created the Replanting Fund (officially known as the Knutson-Vandenburg Fund) in 1930 in order to provide funding for the reforestation of logged-over National Forest lands. The Forest Service is allowed to deposit revenues from commercial timber sales into this fund, rather than returning this money to the U.S. Treasury.

PROBLEMS WITH THE REPLANTING FUND:
The essential problem with the Replanting Fund is that the Forest Service doesn’t charge private timber corporations enough money to cover the costs of replanting the public’s National Forests. Initially, the law required private timber companies to pay a replanting fee following logging activities. However, in 1957 the Forest Service made a change to this law that enabled agency employees to deduct this fee directly from the timber sale price, resulting in the taxpayer bearing the burden of the timber industry’s replanting costs.

To make matters worse, forest managers have been diverting a large percentage of Replanting funds to bureaucratic overhead – such as computers, salaries, and rent – rather than reforestation efforts. According to a General Accounting Office report, in 1997 over 30% of Replanting funds were spent on items or projects that could not be directly linked to the reforestation of National Forests. Not only does this diversion of these monies to pay for overhead violate the intent of the fund, it has also led to a reforestation backlog of 92,000 acres in 1997.

The Forest Service likes having these funds because they can deposit and spend taxpayer money without permission from Congress. By allowing forest managers to retain all revenues from timber sales, a powerful incentive has been created to promote logging over other National Forest activities. Today, the Replanting Fund perpetuates a cycle that results in forest managers selling more timber (at prices that don’t even cover their costs) in order to maintain the funding that pays their salaries.

THE SOLUTION:
In order to rectify these abuses, the Replanting Fund should be subject to Congress’ annual appropriations process. Since this would require that Congress earmark a fixed dollar amount for replanting activities, the Forest Service would not be able to spend these funds on anything but their intended purpose, forcing the agency to become accountable to Congress and the American taxpayer. In addition, the Forest Service should reinstate the reforestation fee on timber purchasers. Timber companies should pay for the replanting of the National Forest trees that they cut – not taxpayers.